Fighting The Gods!

[MortalPlague]

Hello folks!

I'm going to be running a 4th edition one-shot game with my players where they roll up 30th level characters and fight the gods. I'll be running three separate combat encounters (with a full extended rest between each), with a single god and some minions. I'll have 6 or 7 players, so I definitely want to put in a few elites to help complement the gods (and alleviate the stunlock problem).

The gods we'll be fighting are Torog, then Lolth, and finally Vecna. I'm planning to put them with some thematically appropriate monsters, and I'll be constructing an arena for each encounter.

What I'm asking for here is suggestions, ideas, and experiences. I've never run an encounter with these particular villains (or beyond 18th level, for that matter), so what are things I should keep in mind? I'm probably going to give each god an ability to save against an effect at the start of their turn with no solo bonus (possibly against 'end of next turn' effects too). Other than that, I'd love to hear suggestions for how to properly play and tweak the gods. Also, if anyone has suggestions for good companion monsters or terrain features to go along with the various deities, that would be appreciated as well.

 

[catastrophic]

This is pretyt advanced, but one idea would be to put a 'learning curve' in the three fights, using a terrain feature that is similar in each one, but gets more challenging over time.

The idea would be to encourage people to learn to master the terrain feature in the first two fights, in preperation for the third fight.

An example for the three fights: An under-or-adjacent mini-dungeon where a pc can be sent to fight minions. Skill comes with avoiding being trapped in the mini dungeon, and even using it to get around the battlefield. Here's what I mean:

Fight One: Torog/The Underdark. The normal battlemap has holes in it. Anybody falling into these holes is moved to a mini-map made out of a few tunnels. These tunnels represent parts of the underdark undermining the battlefield. These minimaps are populated by minions, and to escape from them, you simply have to exit from any entrance apart from the one you were placed at when you entered. Any pcs who fall into a hole in the same turn are placed at the same entrance/exit point. When you escape the underdark holes, you can emerge from any hole but the one you entered by.

Fight Two: Lolth/The Demonweb. Same as the above, with an added hazard. When you fall into one of the holes, you fall into a section of the demonweb, and must find your way out. However, the webs are thick, and it's hard to move- you become slowed if you're alone in the demonweb at the end of your turn. However, two PCs working together can hack their way through the webs easily- you're not slowed in the demonweb if an ally is adjacent to you at the end of their or your turn.

Fight Three: Vecna/Books of Secrets. This final version of the terrain feature sees vecna's lair scattered with books on diases that are so hungry for secrets, that they suck in any PC who ends up adjacent to them! This trasports them to the realm of secrets, a pocket dimension that functions like the mini-maps above, with one exception- rather than being slowed, anyone caught alone in the realm of secrets is immobilised, forgotten and frozen in place, kept secret from the universe. However, you are only immobilised if at the end of your turn, you can't see any of your allies- if one of your allies is there to see you, both of you can stop each other from being kept secret and frozen.

Each of these three features follow the same rules, but each one is more challenging than the last. However, if the players keep focused, they can learn the trick to gettting through them, which is that if somebody is in there alone, somebody else should go in after them, and the two can make their way out. There are also ways to exploit the mini-dungeons, like using them to move around the battlefield (and this also helps to make up for the time spent in them).

It's up to you wether for instance, people could ignore the slow and immobilise effects with a ring of free action- using powers like this is not a big deal. It'salso important not to overpower the player, since this could tax them, and make sure the mini-dungeons are not too large, or it could cause a drag in the game.

This migth be a gbit too ambitious for you, but I though it was a cool idea so I wanted to mention it.

 

[RangerWickett]

I'm running a one- or two-shot this week wherein the 30th level party tries to keep Lolth and the drow pantheon from conquering Rio de Janeiro. I'm currently statting out Selvetarm, Vhaeraun, Kiaransalee, and Ghaunadar, trying to make them actually be a challenge for 30th level PCs. And I'm convinced Lolth is weak, so I've got a series of "tricks" to throw in and spice things up if the PCs are completely thumping her.

Seriously, though, you should either lay ground rules for your players ("You're not allowed to build characters that grant infinite actions for the party, or that can use the same power to stun a creature multiple turns. These are simply not allowed."), or you've got to ridiculously buff up those monsters.

Solos are so weak to status conditions. Hell, I ran an 11th level game, where the party managed to give a dragon a constant -2 to all attacks, and minus something ridiculous to all his damage. Even bonus saves don't help. Just be an ass and say, "The god has two turns. At the end of each of his turns, all status effects on him end," or something like that.

 

[the Jester]

My experience with epic, or even paragon, one-shots is that the players are horribly ineffective because they don't know their capabilities.

Good luck, though!

 

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

Heed the Jester!

Epic-level characters are complicated. They have dozens of powers, feats, racial traits, and class/path/destiny/theme/background features. Don't forget their magical and wondrous equipment!

You'll either need to have everyone come with their final character sheets, or set aside a session for character creation. And still set aside most of that first session for character creation-related questions and problems.

Also note that even with the state-of-the-art in character and monster design, a competent group of players with fully-rested characters should wipe the floor with any solo. Your arenas should feature waves of enemies and traps and terrain designed to exhaust your player's resources before they face the big, bad, evil guy. Whether you allow a short rest between waves or not is up to you.

Throwing a single "level-appropriate" encounter at them that is made up of a solo and minions is probably going to be disappointing.

 

[nicholasgeorg]

Listen to Jester and tikktikk. I've tried one offs in epic tier and it has consistently been a disaster. I'd strongly advise running it for 3 or 4 players. Any more than that and it'll be insanity trying to figure out all of the triggered actions. Remember the first time somebody spent an action point in paragon tier and all hell broke loose? Exponentially crazier at epic.

Our biggest problem really was party cohesion. Really tough to understand what everyone can do, and it makes combat reaaaally slow.

Good luck, but be warned. It isn't pretty.

 

[Cyronax]

It almost seems like a one-shot Epic Tier adventure would work better if all of the characters (from different worlds and times) are drawn into a gladitorial-style arena by some Collector or Meddler type god. They'd be told that they have to fight each other to the deaths for the god's pleasure, but they eventually figure out a way to break out of the arena and take on the god themselves. Throw in a few Epic Tier NPC heros/villains to complicate the PC's fight against the god.

C.I.D.

Its basically the plot to Marvel Comics Secret Wars.